Michael Gove: “The country that pioneered the Industrial Revolution … [has] a responsibility to lead a Green … Revolution.”

Michael Gove
Michael Gove. By Chris McAndrewhttps://api20170418155059.azure-api.net/photo/U6auUM9t.jpeg?crop=MCU_3:4&quality=80&download=trueGallery: https://beta.parliament.uk/media/U6auUM9t, CC BY 3.0, Link

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

All the harm Britain did to the world by creating the Industrial Revolution puts Britain under a special obligation to lead on climate change, according to British MP Michael Gove.

Michael Gove declares UK has a ‘moral responsibility’ to lead global Green Industrial Revolution

James S Murray @James_BG 11 February 2020

Cabinet Secretary sets out government’s priorities for COP26 Summit, but is reticent on whether he wants the job of Summit President

Michael Gove this morning declared that he was “very happy with the job I have”, while declining to be drawn on whether he wants the post of COP26 President in this week’s imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

He also hinted that in the face of likely opposition from the US and Brazilian administrations the UK would look to work with cities and states to secure more ambitious climate pledges. And he highlighted the importance of China’s upcoming Biodiversity COP, which he argued represented “two halves of the same process” in conjunction with the Glasgow COP Summit and as such should provide a route to securing close co-operation with China and other major emerging economies.

He added that “the reasons we think it is so important to demonstrate this leadership is not just because we are hosting COP, but also because we believe the UK has a moral responsibility to lead as the first country in the world to industrialise”.

“As we all know the Industrial Revolution relied – and still relies to a disproportionate extent – on the extraction and use of hydrocarbons,” Gove said. “And we have a moral responsibility on the first in, first out basis to ensure the country that pioneered the Industrial Revolution and played the biggest role in the change in our climate, [has] a responsibility to lead a Green Industrial Revolution.

Read more: https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4010465/michael-gove-declares-uk-moral-responsibility-lead-global-green-industrial-revolution

This isn’t the first time a British politician has casually talked up bypassing the US Federal Government, to undermine President Trump’s policies by striking deals with individual US cities and states. Its like some Britons still think they own the USA.

Updated (EW): “Its like Britain still thinks…” changed to “Its like some Britons still think…”. Sorry for any upset caused by my original poor wording, having lived in Britain I know there are plenty of sensible people including my friends in the skeptic movement who are just as horrified at the CAGW scam as I am.

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John Bell
February 13, 2020 2:06 pm

I bet Gove will keep on using fossil fuels every day, because sacrifice is for the little people.

Bill Powers
Reply to  John Bell
February 13, 2020 3:11 pm

That’s exactly how they communicate at their cocktail soirees and after parties.

Why they even complain that if the population keeps growing and the little people keep using and then we allow those who have lived so long and satisfactorily, in 3rd world countries, to electrify, why there will soon be none left for the more deserving who champion the planets salvation from all these little people overpopulating.

Quick, let us create another honorarium or awards program so that they can strut about like peacocks on the red carpet patting each other on the back.

Philo
Reply to  Bill Powers
February 15, 2020 7:37 am

has anyone seen a graph of CO2 emissions vs. individual earnings/income? possibly corrected for “carbon” credits applied?

brians356
Reply to  John Bell
February 13, 2020 5:27 pm

Let them eat gluten-free cake.

Andy Espersen
Reply to  John Bell
February 13, 2020 6:12 pm

Let Michael Gove rave on — there is a joker in his pack these days by the name of Boris Johnson – I wonder whether he conferred with him before launching out on this idiotic ranting.

Carrie
Reply to  Andy Espersen
February 14, 2020 12:25 am

Boris is just as bad, a few years back he wrote a realist article but sadly he’s now got a green girlfriend so that’s gone out the window!

Andy Espersen
Reply to  Carrie
February 14, 2020 12:58 am

Can’t believe it.

Gerry, England
Reply to  Andy Espersen
February 14, 2020 5:44 am

Johnson is a serial liar which means it could go either way. He is also not a conservative – he is a metropolitan liberal leading a centre left government. In terms of what he has said in the past, he is on record as having saying leaving the EU would not be a good idea.

Hot under the collar
Reply to  Andy Espersen
February 14, 2020 1:01 pm

Don’t rely on Boris – as well as his green girlfriend, his whole family (father, brother and sister) are all climate alarm supporters, some of them have even been seen supporting Extinction Rebellion. So far Boris has suspended all Fracking, supports ‘zero carbon’ targets and is wasting the family (taxpayers) silver (Over £1Trillion) on ‘green’, CO2 reduction initiatives. Gove is an easily led idiot.

Andy Espersen
Reply to  Hot under the collar
February 14, 2020 5:30 pm

Boris will come to his senses. Fact is, particularly now Britain has left EU there is no way she can afford the hideously expensive climate change policies.

Peter Roach
Reply to  John Bell
February 16, 2020 12:13 pm

This is the type of person who probably can not even use a screwdriver….

February 13, 2020 2:08 pm

The idiocy seems to be a pandemic illness, unbelievable…

Pillage Idiot
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 13, 2020 3:01 pm

If we look at the RNA strands in the Corona virus, will we find it used sequences of CAGW alarmism?

Simon Kelly
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 13, 2020 10:08 pm

Smeagol Gove says silly things once more. Ignore this highly intelligent but utterly mistaken person.

Joel Snider
February 13, 2020 2:09 pm

No. We don’t have any responsibility to pander to Gove’s paranoia. Or Greta’s.

It took an absolute lack of morality to push this came this far.

Joel Snider
Reply to  Joel Snider
February 13, 2020 2:10 pm

… that should be ‘push this SCAM this far’.

I miss the edit button.

Gerry Lalonde
Reply to  Joel Snider
February 13, 2020 2:32 pm

Joel; I thought it was ‘game’. It’s a fixed game anyway!

Bryan A
Reply to  Joel Snider
February 13, 2020 2:33 pm

I misread it as Game (which also works well)

commieBob
February 13, 2020 2:12 pm

It isn’t clear that cities and states can make foreign agreements. That power is vested in the Senate and the President. link

I am not a lawyer. I have no clue. I may be getting a headache. I can dream that some governor or mayor could end up in the slammer for violating the constitution, but that doesn’t seem likely … it would be wonderful though.

Reply to  commieBob
February 13, 2020 2:37 pm

commieBob

I think you posted on the wrong thread mate……. 🙂 :0 :)……Take some Paracetamol, no aspirin left in the jungle because of course…………..

d
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 3:05 pm

Right there in the article, HotScot, and in the commentaty essay, this MP is talking about dealing directly with US and Brazilian cities and states. I think it is the right thread. What commieBob is missing is the attempts by states e.g. California making climate and trade pacts with other countries — non-binding though they might be. China, for instance, has no recourse to the U.S. government when California renegs. They can get away with it up to the point that the agreement violates U.S. law or hurts other states.

Funny thing, but without U.S. resources, the U.K. coal plants would be polluting at a higher rate, and the U.S. is leading CO2 reduction. So perhaps the real ecologists in Britain should look to the U.S. for leadership. But you won’t hear that from the Green party, which is less about ecology and more about the Socialist coalition agenda.

Reply to  d
February 13, 2020 4:20 pm

d

We don’t have a senate or a President in the UK. We don’t have Governors or a written constitution.

Besides which, I was teasing him.

Nor do I give a monkeys cuss about CO2 emission. It is meaningless other than as a life enhancing trace gas.

“Funny thing, but without U.S. resources, the U.K. coal plants would be polluting at a higher rate”

Who the Fvck started the industrial revolution that allowed America to grow in the first place?!

Don’t dare patronise me over America’s position in the world relative to CO2 production or the UK’s improvement of our global condition.

You owe us nothing for it, but don’t dare try to rub our faces in British success which dragged humanity into the 20th Century.

commieBob
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 8:17 pm

Besides which, I was teasing him.

Yes and you even provided an emoji or two to indicate your intent.

Alan the Brit
Reply to  HotScot
February 14, 2020 6:24 am

As I’ve told many a negative anti-British body, (usually a lefty Brit as they are the worst of all) when told about who started the slave trade, etc, etc, with many a British home port established upon the map as a result of slave-trading, “Who ended it first 1807?” is what I say! I also point out that we Brits, for ALL our faults didn’t actually “invent” the business of slave-trading, there were after all the Persians, Greeks, Arabs (in general), Romans, Spanish, Portrugese, Italians, French, plus many, many others, & of course, many a tribal African chief who would send his “boys” inland to raid the camps & villages of their mortal & traditional enemies, stealing men, women, boys, & girls, to sell to these oh so eager European whities with lots of beads, etc!I suspect there is more than a modicome of jealousey amongst our former enemies, who revel in running us down!

Tom Abbott
Reply to  HotScot
February 14, 2020 6:57 am

““Who ended it first 1807?” is what I say!”

I think that is the important part, ending it.

I read the other day that there are still something like 25 nations on the planet that have no laws against slavery. There are still a lot of enslaved people in the world, including people in developed nations who do have laws against slavery. It’s a big problem.

Patrick Healy
Reply to  d
February 14, 2020 1:27 am

D
“Without US resources UK coal plants would be polluting (sic) more…..”
First off coal plants do not “pollute”
Second the biggest grown up power generating plant in Britain – Brax in Yorkshire- sits on top of an estimated 600 years worth of coal. That’s why real adult engineers built it there.
Some years ago the idiot government (Socialists or conservative-no different) decided to convert it to burning trees.
The biggest irony is that the trees are cut in the Southern United States, processed into pellets and shipped umpteen thousand miles to Brax.
As the man said “you could not make this s..t up”

Reply to  Patrick Healy
February 14, 2020 3:57 am

PH
Dirty to not pick but it should be Drax not Brax.

Reply to  Patrick Healy
February 14, 2020 3:58 am

PH
Sorry to nit pick but it should be Drax not Brax.

Gerry, England
Reply to  Patrick Healy
February 14, 2020 5:50 am

The saddest thing is that it made financial sense for Drax to convert to burning American trees. They were being driven out of business by the government taxes on coal. They are trying to convert the remainder of the plant to gas because the taxpayer cash to convert to wood is no longer there. They are waiting for the economic case to work out to convert.

Johann Wundersamer
Reply to  Patrick Healy
February 25, 2020 9:36 pm

Brax, Drax, Brexed it.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  d
February 14, 2020 6:47 am

“So perhaps the real ecologists in Britain should look to the U.S. for leadership.”

Britain needs to start fracking their resources and building gas-fired powerplants. They ought to do a cost/benefit analysis between doing that and putting up more windmills.

Phils Dad
Reply to  d
February 16, 2020 7:40 pm

To be fair the article doesn’t say “dealing directly with US and Brazilian cities and states” it says “the UK would look to work with cities and states to …”. So not necessarily US and Brazilian ones.

Of course it Takes-Two-To-Tango so the UK will make its own mind up but only deal with a city or state that is itself allowed to do so.

Besides which it is only the journalist’s interpretation of a “hint”. Calm down dears.

PS I have met Michael a number of times. He has a wonderful dark, rich voice and talks a lot of dark, rich stuff.

sunderlandsteve
Reply to  HotScot
February 14, 2020 2:27 pm

The parrots ate them all……sorry, I’ll get my coat 😁

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  commieBob
February 13, 2020 9:35 pm

US Constitution Article I-Section 10.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; …

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, …

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with … a foreign Power, or engage in War, …

The types of agreements that Gove wants would simply be void and unenforceable. They would only be punishable if the violate the Logan Act (18 USC §953):

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

That last clause strikes me as fairly ambiguous and hard to enforce. The law was enacted in 1799 and has rarely been enforced.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Walter Sobchak
February 14, 2020 7:10 am

“Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

John Kerry, former Vietnam Veteran and Vietnam war protestor, and former U.S. presidential candidate is guilty of violating that provision twice. The first time was when he tried to undermine the U.S. position at the Paris Peace talks during the Vietnam war when he colluded with the North Vietnamese, and the second time is when he colluded (ongoing?) with the Mad Mullahs of Iran to undermine President Trump’s hardline position against the Mad Mullahs acquiring nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. As far as I know, he is still at this treason.

Don’t ever trust Democrats with maintaining U.S. national security. Their thought processes are so delusional that they are incapable of understanding the world around them and that makes them incapable of defending the U.S. properly. They have demonstrated this delusional thinking for decades with no end in sight.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom Abbott
February 14, 2020 7:39 am

They honestly seem to believe that the rest of the world so loves them, that as soon as they come to power, all problems will just melt away.

February 13, 2020 2:14 pm
Reply to  Zoe Phin
February 13, 2020 4:33 pm

Zoe

Great. Now turn it into an example a layman can use.

I get so p*ssed off at ‘scientists’ who talk their own bollox amongst themselves then cheerily present their conclusions to the world in a language 90% of the planet doesn’t understand.

You guys just don’t get it do you, despite Einstein telling you:

“If you can’t explain your science to a three year old, it doesn’t work.” (paraphrasing).

90% of the world aren’t scientist’s. Learn to speak English and not Scientish, then you might just convince people the world isn’t ending tomorrow!

Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 4:39 pm
LdB
Reply to  Zoe Phin
February 13, 2020 5:14 pm

There are some thought bubbles you should probably never publish, least people can see how really stupid you are.

Lets give you an inkling of the problem you determined 48.9 mW/m² at 10m down how do you know which direction? You setup a classic physics flux case and forgot fluxes have DIRECTION.
The heat could be going laterally it could be going down, it could be going up.

So lets take a leap of faith you aren’t brain dead leave the more difficult case of lateral and lets deal with up/down. So you are saying the sun thermal stops at 10m so get the data at 20m and 50m. What you then have is 3 numbers and it will tell you which way the heat flux is going at especially since 2 of them are in an area not affected by the sun 🙂

Reply to  LdB
February 13, 2020 6:11 pm

“The heat could be going laterally it could be going down, it could be going up.”

If it was going down, it would be negative.

Phils Dad
Reply to  LdB
February 16, 2020 8:10 pm

LdB, could you just do the science without the insults. You diminish yourself by them.

LdB
Reply to  Zoe Phin
February 13, 2020 5:39 pm

I should add the underlying principle here is the heat is moving thru the same material and any formula that is correct for surface to 10m is the same as 10m to 20m and 40m to 50m etc. Your formula should work in all cases because it works on the any temperature differential regardless of how the temperature differential comes about.

Reply to  LdB
February 13, 2020 6:17 pm

” and any formula that is correct for surface to 10m is the same as 10m to 20m”

No, we don’t want the solar component above -10 meters. The point was to isolate geothermal, and not say how hot it can be when the sun is out.

Sheesh, talk about a pedantic misunderstanding.

February 13, 2020 2:16 pm

From 1780 to 1914 UK coal production contributed an average of18% of global CO2 increase, in 2019 it was 0.6%. Leadership enough for Mr Gove?

Reply to  Eric Huxter
February 13, 2020 2:23 pm

Eric Huxter

Now that’s interesting. Can you give us more info or links on that please.

brians356
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 5:31 pm

It’s obvious “by inspection”. “Percentage of global production” should be all you need to grasp it.

Reply to  HotScot
February 14, 2020 1:42 am

Using the estimated UK coal production 1750-1850 (1980 Pollard Economic History Review) (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2595840) plus published coal production statistics 1850 – 1914 and the Law Dome Data (https://cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/ftp/trends/co2/lawdome.combined.dat
) the emissions can be calculated and compared to the observed increase in CO2. UK emissions averaged 18% of the annual increase over the period 1780-1914. 2109 UK Emissions 1.1% of global total. Human emissions averaged 188% of annual increase since 1958, end result 0.6% contribution to CO2 increase.

Herbert
February 13, 2020 2:16 pm

Michael Gove should be made aware of Judge Alsup’s request to the parties in the San Francisco and Oakland v. Chevron and other Oil companies litigation-
Identify the benefits to the communities of fossil fuels over the last 200 years.
Mr. Gove might enlighten us as to what exactly were the “evils”of the Industrial Revolution.
He should spend less time listening to Greta who thinks Britain owes a ‘special responsibility‘ for inaugurating the Industrial Revolution.
These people want to take us back to the seventies.
The 1770s that is.

Chaswarnertoo
Reply to  Herbert
February 13, 2020 2:25 pm

He’s a coke head Gretin.

Alan the Brit
Reply to  Herbert
February 14, 2020 7:35 am

Is that ‘special responsibility’ as in, ” give us loads of money!” ?

Johann Wundersamer
Reply to  Alan the Brit
February 25, 2020 9:46 pm

Alan the Brit February 14, 2020 at 7:35 am

Is that ‘special responsibility’ as in, ” give us loads of money!” ?

____________________________________

That’s ‘special responsibility’ as in

“Big brands have to take a view on what the consumer wants”, Jocelyn Wilkinson, responsibility programme director at Burberry told Walpole’s Future Of British Luxury Summit on Tuesday, February 4.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwilliams1/2020/02/11/global-warming-threatens-luxury-lifestyles-of-the-rich/

February 13, 2020 2:17 pm

Just as with a person, it helps if you want to be seen to be all for Green things, is to be very rich, and it helps to have such as Norway has lots of Hydro electricity to back up the inefficient renewables plus of course lots of fossal fuel such as oil.

The UK is too small and has a far too big a population to be able to play the silly game of pretending to be Green,

MJE VK5ELL

February 13, 2020 2:20 pm

No, ‘Britain’ does not imagine they own the UK, thanks very much.

Most of us well balanced Brits recognise we are an island nation and responsible for our own governance and actions. Americans and Australians, amongst the rest of our extended family, are adored cousins. We have been through a lot together.

There may be a few UK politicians who are deranged enough to imagine they aspire to anything more than the tiniest blip in the space time continuum, but the rest of us have our feet on the ground.

Let me make it clear, Gove is a political climber. Evidently known as ‘Brains’ amongst the political elite, which is sad as, when asked on national radio the other day, no less than 8 times, how much banning ICE vehicles would cost the country, he eventually, and unconvincingly replied (with that same stupid grin on his face) “it will be a net benefit”.

Whatever position he occupies, he will turn his back on the position he previously occupied if it suits his personal objectives.

He speaks like an old style politician, never, ever, answering a question, and imagines it’s clever. Despite the entire British empire screaming at him and many of his colleagues “Just answer the effing question!”

This is a man who has survived two failed Prime Ministers so far, and another heading for the rocks just 2 months following an incredibly decisive victory in the 2019 General Election.

Please don’t present this idiot Muppet as anything like representative of Britain.

The silent majority here will take care of him in our own time.

Meanwhile, ignore the scurrying little weasel.

Editor
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 2:47 pm

Thanks, HotScot, for that balanced analysis of Mr Gove’s political stance. One day maybe you might care to say what you really think. In the meantime, can someone please convince Boris that the president of COP26 has to be a dedicated climate sceptic. It’s the only way that any COP is ever going to reach a meaningful agreement. Let’s face it, they haven’t done too well at reaching agreements with alarmist presidents, have they?

Reply to  Mike Jonas
February 13, 2020 3:21 pm

Mike

My feelings on Gove are unpublishable.

He’s a Jock, I despise him more than you can possibly imagine. As I despised the likes of Blair, Brown and Campbell for betraying my country and seeking to climb the slippery Westminster pole rather than fight for their own country. Nor am I a Nationalist!

Despite what people desire, politics isn’t a long term game. No politician can hope to address anything other than the problems immediately in evidence.

However, politicians are no better or worse than you and me, they seek to better their family, as we all do.

But what I despise is when they seek to abuse their position, as they all do, to feather their own nest at the expense of we Taxpayers.

No politician should be able to sit on boards of Directors or profit from investments, or get paid for speeches or appearances.

They get paid a salary for doing a job, and after that job is over they should not engage in any business or activity which compromises their pension.

In short, if you want to be a politician, you will be paid well. If your career comes to an abrupt end, welcome to the real world.

leitmotif
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 3:38 pm

HotScot.

Gove is a Tory minister with a green socialist agenda.

Bit of a traitor, really.

Reply to  leitmotif
February 13, 2020 4:43 pm

leitmotif

If Boris told Gove tomorrow that he changed his mind on green policies, Gove would become an instant sceptic.

Day two: Boris changes his mind, so does Gove. Gove is now an alarmist.

Day three: Boris believes in underground lizards controlling humanity. Gove offers himself up as a sacrifice.

Day four: Gove is the leader of the free world; and his wife tells him to eat his greens.

Saighdear
Reply to  HotScot
February 14, 2020 2:03 am

Aye mun, quite agree with what you say , so eloquently.

Phils Dad
Reply to  Mike Jonas
February 16, 2020 8:31 pm

Alok Sharma (the Business Secretary) will preside over COP26.

I noticed that the one and only Green Party MP in the UK was not impressed.
She said: “But your record in Parliament, voting 15 times against action to address the climate emergency, gives me cause for deep concern.”

Maybe some would see this differently.

February 13, 2020 2:22 pm

Self-confessed cokehead Gove is best known for betraying his leader (Cameron) over the Brexit referendum and then stabbing his leader (Johnson) in the back too.

He has no honour.
No surprise he sees the Green as a means to self-advancement.

brians356
Reply to  M Courtney
February 13, 2020 5:35 pm

How long since “honor” characterised any doings in the House Of Commons? What a shower.

Reply to  brians356
February 14, 2020 10:05 am

The only person to enter parliament with honest intentions was Guy Fawkes.

(To blow it to smithereens!)

Chaswarnertoo
February 13, 2020 2:23 pm

Looks like the moronic twat he is. Not even wrong, Gove.

Pablo an ex Pat
Reply to  Chaswarnertoo
February 13, 2020 3:21 pm

Rick Moranis’s Character from Ghostbusters springs to mind in terms of Mr Gove’s looks.

Berndt Koch
Reply to  Pablo an ex Pat
February 13, 2020 10:33 pm

A bulldog licking piss off a thistle comes to mind in terms of Mr Goves looks.

Rod Evans
February 13, 2020 2:29 pm

Can I apologise to our friends world wide for the lunacy of Michael Grove. His role in British politics is to provide the figure of fun needed by cartoonists and satirists trying to make a living. Gove has about as much credibility as Greta, and about the same understanding of anything to do with science. The most incredible achievement of his political career so far, is retaining his position in Boris’s cabinet after the reshuffle. I can only think, Boris needs Gove to provide a punch bag when things aren’t going so well with his Green fixated girl friend. Not such big a problem these days, now the neighbours don’t knock on the wall and complain about the noise… 🙂

February 13, 2020 2:32 pm

Can I just be (probably the last in a very long line of people) another to say thank you to Anthony, and especially all the guys that do the techie stuff on WUWT, for working so hard to bring back instant posting on the blog.

You guys must have been pulling your hair out for the last year or so.

Big round of applause needed.

Editor
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 3:59 pm

Seconded.

Sweet Old Bob
Reply to  HotScot
February 13, 2020 4:14 pm

^^^ 🙂 ^^^

Ian
February 13, 2020 2:33 pm

No one is suggesting that we have electric driven tractors or trawlers yet, so UK food production will still rely on diesel for the indefinite future. And I fail to see the British Army using electric driven tanks.

Reply to  Ian
February 13, 2020 2:54 pm

Ian

Were our government officials to lead by example, I might take some notice (barely). But the most prominent ‘government’ vehicle of the last decade or so was Bercow’s diesel motivated Land Rover sporting the legend “Bollocks To Brexit”.

The pseudo elite have no idea we are coming to get them.

And yes, there is an elite in the UK, it’s called the Royal Family. And whilst I adore our Queen, the rest of her family, with the possible exception of Princess Ann, are simply not worth the time of day to the rest of the country, despite their protestations.

The real problem being, is that whilst HM the Queen has Reigned over her country admirably, she has allowed our elite to become infected with the concept that they actually hold any power at all over the people.

They don’t, and they are learning some excruciating lessons in the early 21st Century.

Long live the Queen. But God forbid Charlie boy and/or his useless progeny ever aspire to rule the UK ever again.

Phils Dad
Reply to  HotScot
February 16, 2020 8:38 pm

King James was Ok

Kenji
February 13, 2020 2:39 pm

We have an obligation to spread the prosperity, health, and human longevity of the ongoing Industrial and Technological Revolution. Going “Green” … Going BACKWARD is immoral and utterly selfish. 1st World selfish.

chaamjamal
February 13, 2020 2:57 pm

“All the harm Britain did to the world by creating the Industrial Revolution”

Our love hate relationship with the Industrial Revolution is older than climate change. Climate change is just its latest form.

https://tambonthongchai.com/2019/10/14/racism/

Reply to  chaamjamal
February 13, 2020 3:26 pm

chaamjamal

I always enjoy your contributions here mate.

Thank you.

fretslider
February 13, 2020 3:03 pm

I don’t feel a special responsibility to go back to the dark ages.

Oh for a sceptical politician

Ulick Stafford
February 13, 2020 3:11 pm

I am puzzled why anyone can believe in CAGW or Brexit. A vast majority seem to believe in one or the other – often the most vociferous in favour of one of the idiocies is an opponent of the other. But Michael Gove seems to be a double idiot believing in both Brexit and all the carbon reduction tomfoolery.

As an a species we certainly haven’t evolved from the time when Aztec sacrificed thousand of people to combat climate change.

leitmotif
Reply to  Ulick Stafford
February 13, 2020 3:45 pm

Ulick

CAGW bad.

Brexit good.

Gotit?

MarkW
Reply to  Eric Worrall
February 14, 2020 7:42 am

“Perhaps they don’t want Brexit to succeed.”

Most of them have been quite vocal about their opposition to it.

Flight Level
February 13, 2020 3:15 pm

So Mr. Gove, you think that whoever created prosperity has the responsibility to destroy it?

Are you still on schedule with your medications Sir?

Because unless you’re able to present a recent medical endorsement, you voice precisely the logic of those we don’t allow on board.

B d Clark
February 13, 2020 3:36 pm

The UK is setting itself up to be the world leader offsetting climate change, this is the new kid on the block who will represent the UK at COP26 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51491538.

The seeds of destruction UK in its present form as I’ve posted before is set in stone by the jolly buffoon we see at the beginning of this article,the right cowardly Michael Gove, Gove plays on the evils of the industrial revolution, yet hes sown the seed of the next revolution, the revolution of regression ,deliberately making it uneconomic for family farms to survive , only the wealthy middle classes will be able to drive. Uncertainty of a national grid able to supply demand, land grab in all but name, with more and more laws on the environment making a land owner more like a sitting tennant. No gas ,no coal, no woodburners only electric for heat and cooking ,all this will happen over the next few years , a daily brainwashing by the media telling us nearly every thing we do is harmful to the planet, even a idiot can see there is national and international conspiracy to ware us down into excepting ythis guilt laden brainwashing so we accept this regression.

The only thing that’s not clear is when is the United states going to invade and give us are freedom back.

Mr trump we are being taken over by left wing communists who are forcing a agenda on us which we never gave consent too, we have no choice all parties in UK politics follow this agenda, are freedoms and way of life is being taken over.

February 13, 2020 3:46 pm
Garry Graham
February 13, 2020 3:48 pm

Given that the industrial revolution has arrested and reversed the terminal decline of atmospheric CO2 that would have ended life on the planet within a couple of thousand years, I think the world owes a debt of gratitude to (the once) Great Britain.

February 13, 2020 3:51 pm

Dear Boris,

Conservatism is freedom of choice by by consensus, is it not?

Conservative governments around the world accept this.

So, kindly explain to me where freedom of choice exists when you mandate that British society changes radically, likely for the worse, with your coercive policies to make life changing decisions on behalf of the common man?

My God I am so sick of you fantasist politicians.

Please end the deaths of 25,000 people every year, in the 5th wealthiest nation in the world, from cold weather, before you embark on a crusade of saving the world by instructing us on what vehicle to drive, or how we heat our homes.

Baby steps Boris.

Yours faithfully,

David Redfern. (HotScot)

Mark Allinson
February 13, 2020 3:51 pm

There was no Brexit.

Boris’s has pulled a swiftie – the people think they are now free of the collectivist, globalist EU when all that has happened is that the UK is now an EU-franchise.

Sasha
February 13, 2020 3:59 pm

For God’s sake …. IGNORE GOVE!
How many times do I have to say it?
We know he is an idiot and political apparatchik and nobody here takes him seriously.
What’s more, Gove has no power to do anything other than talk.
Yak, yak, yak. That’s all he’s ever done.
Got that? He can’t actually DO anything.
And did I mention he is a publicity-seeking idiot?
Just ignore him and enjoy your day.

B d Clark
Reply to  Sasha
February 13, 2020 4:08 pm

Unfortunately when he was minister for the environment he sowed the seeds of destruction, then he was given a cushy job as a cabinet member sitting as the Dutch of Lancaster,he will still be pulling strings .

ColMosby
February 13, 2020 4:02 pm

I”ve got news : the industrial revolution is now centered in China. And China is building conventional nuclear power and also rushing to commercialize molten salt small modular nuclear reactors. Canada is also pushing the development of molten salt reactors, and went there rather than remain in Britain because Canada was
far easier to work with and supportive than Britain

MarkW
February 13, 2020 4:06 pm

The industrial revolution lifted billions out of poverty and increased over all prosperity for the entire planet.
Britain has nothing to apologize for.

Richmond
Reply to  MarkW
February 13, 2020 4:45 pm

Thank you. The industrial revolution has been a gift to humanity. I do not like green-misanthropy and the thought that humans are not natural inhabitants of the planet. Prosperity has allowed us to live better and cleaner lives. I enjoy my life at the top of the food chain and the benefits of technology. Enjoy the inter-glacial while it lasts.

Julian Flood
Reply to  MarkW
February 14, 2020 5:03 am

We could always send everybody the bill.

JF

MarkW
Reply to  Julian Flood
February 14, 2020 7:44 am

I think we paid that bill in interest 1940 to 1945.

Lancifer
February 13, 2020 4:06 pm

Looks like Mr. Bean and sounds about as smart.

brians356
Reply to  Lancifer
February 13, 2020 5:37 pm

Not like Orson Bean RIP who was a considerable renaissance man.

slow to follow
February 13, 2020 4:10 pm
slow to follow
February 13, 2020 4:11 pm
slow to follow
Reply to  slow to follow
February 18, 2020 3:46 am

Mayor urges Government to allow Londoners to retain EU citizenship
18 February 2020
Sadiq heads to Brussels for top-level meetings with Guy Verhofstadt MEP, Michel Barnier and David Sassoli MEP

‘Associate Citizenship’ should be at heart of negotiations about the UK’s future relationship with EU, says Mayor

https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/londoners-could-retain-eu-citizenship

Mayor wants Londoners and UK nationals to keep rights they had as EU citizens, if they wish

William Haas
February 13, 2020 4:29 pm

The reality is that, based on the paleoclimate record and the work done with models, the climate change we have been experiencing is very small and is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Despite the hype, there is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and there is plenty of scientific rationale to support the conclusion that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero.

There are many good reasons to be conserving on the use of fossil fuels but climate change is not one of them. If they really want to be conserving on the use of fossil fuels in a big way then the best approach would be replacing ageing fossil fuel plants with nuclear power plants. Going electric does not reduce the burning of fossil fuels if the power plants producing that electricity are burning fossil fuels. Wind and solar may be able to help but that energy is not available all of the time and is currently cost prohibitive especially to store it in any big way. In terms of green energy what we need are very high capacity electrical storage batteries that are small and light weight, dirt cheap to manufacture, and that last for decades, but we do not have that yet.

Gwan
Reply to  William Haas
February 13, 2020 6:41 pm

I agree with you William Haas.
Why do none of the climate emergency crowd never call for the rapid research and building of nuclear power plants ?
They do not seem capable of thinking for themselves that our modern civilization depends on cheap plentiful energy .
Restrict energy and these idiots like Gove will soon be tossed out when shortages and cost increases of most essentials start hurting the average family.
Gove should join the greens because that’s what the clowns beliefs align with .
Here in New Zealand we have greens in the government and they will ruin the country if they gain a bit more power .
Unfortunately we have MMP and once a party gets 5% or more of the votes they get members into parliament and the tail starts to wag the dog.
In the UK it looks like Gove the dog is wagging his tail.
Thank goodness all my great grand parents left the UK between 1850 and 1863 for NZ
Graham
Proud to be a farmer who has supplied lamb beef ,butter and cheese to feed the UK from New Zealand

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Gwan
February 13, 2020 8:19 pm

MMP what a wonderful thing that is. Allows people like Nandor “Look dood I skateboard to work from a taxpayer funded luxury house on Oriental Pde” Tanczos. One hit wonders. What did he actually do?

markl
February 13, 2020 4:30 pm

This is on the same page as “white privilege” that’s becoming all the rage in the US. It’s part of the shaming binge the Left resorts to when they have nothing worthwhile to carry on about. We make North Korea’s draconian punishment of going back three generations look OK.

n.n
Reply to  markl
February 13, 2020 4:47 pm

Ah, yes, I remember it well: Jew… or was it Tutsi, White privilege. Deja vu.

Patrick Healy
Reply to  markl
February 14, 2020 2:27 am

Would that “white privilege” be found among the (how many?) white ‘persons’ hoping to be the next Marxist U.S. president.?

Reply to  markl
February 14, 2020 2:58 pm

“White Privilege” brings this to mind.
(I hope the link works.)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LeJfn_qW0&w=962&h=541%5D

2hotel9
Reply to  Gunga Din
February 15, 2020 5:39 am

Back when SNL was almost funny, still.

February 13, 2020 4:30 pm

Oh what a great twit!

February 13, 2020 5:45 pm

I think the UK can take several victory laps for introducing the industrial revolution. If there is any penance to be paid it is for the BBC, Guardian and any policies they have cobbled together with an intent of change the weather.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Andy Pattullo
February 14, 2020 8:00 am

“I think the UK can take several victory laps for introducing the industrial revolution.”

I agree. It’s silly to think the Industrial Revolution per se is a negative. Where would we be without it?

Ronald Bruce
February 13, 2020 5:50 pm

Too stupid to know how stupid he is.

Tom Gelsthorpe
February 13, 2020 7:33 pm

The country that led the world out of peasantry, that enabled billions of people to escape the drudgery of stoop labor, of trudging behind mules, and instead created art and literature and travel and liberty, now has a reciprocal obligation to renounce everything, and march the globe right back into peasantry, 40-year life expectancies, 30% infant mortality and other good stuff.

Everyone who wants to subsist by food he can grow with a digging stick; to hunt, gather and live in hollow logs like raccoons? Never stray more than twenty miles from their place of birth? Sign up here!

Abolition Man
Reply to  Tom Gelsthorpe
February 14, 2020 2:31 am

Tom, we need to start a student exchange program where climate zealots can trade places with young people in Third World nations for a few years. If the zealots like self-enforced poverty and hunger maybe it could be made permanent; I’ll bet few of the yout’s (My Cousin, Vinnie) from the Third World would mind terribly. They might even become productive members of society which is unlikely for the Greens!

DaveM
February 13, 2020 8:36 pm

I advocate being as efficient as practical. Being impractically efficient is stupid. Rather, it usually isn’t actually efficient. Improvements in technology pretty much always increase what you can do with a given amount of manpower, space, and energy. I more or less think the industrial revolution was a green revolution that went though a brown phase.
You have to have some wealth to care about the damage you do getting it. I’m not talking Bill Gates. Just, having a home, car, and the ordinary stuff most of us have. Little fear of things being stolen, less of going hungry. Once you have a stable life, you start trying to improve your environment. The smoggy skies that once overwhelmed the industrial cities of the past are all but a memory.
The problem with the “green revolution” is that almost every aspect seems suspiciously designed to make people poorer. And to an extent, even if people become poorer, they’ll still try to keep their environments up. Problem is, there is a threshold, and once you pass it, all this goes out the window. They’ll burn coal to heat their food or even trash. As for where they get their food, suddenly a lot of possibilities open. The current plague is due in part to poverty and food procurement leading to a species jump for the illness. So, let’s be as efficient as possible, but not get so slavishly fixated on “green” that we end up turning that color before we die.

February 13, 2020 8:39 pm

Let’s follow the logic of Liberals.
Not just Industrial Revolution derived wealth, but 500 years of colonialism must be paid for all well
Here in the US, the “wokest” Democrats are calling for slavery reparations.
As such, Britain is now expected to hand over all her Royal Crown Jewels in the Tower of London to China please. Or just put it up for a Sotheby’s Auction and send the proceeds to the UN.
The GreenSlime billionaire’s will line up to buy the Queens Crown and the many Princess tiaras to give to their kids for their social soirees.

Well Britain? Fork it over. The UK’s “Woke” Libtards have spoken.

donald penman
February 13, 2020 8:55 pm

This is why I didn’t vote conservative in the recent election because they are wrong on climate change. We have to fight back against our politicians and media but what party is going to do that.

Bob Heath
Reply to  donald penman
February 13, 2020 11:57 pm

Same reason i didn’t vote conservative

donald penman
February 13, 2020 9:35 pm

I would fund any party that would fight back against climate alarmism but the Brexit party is not that party we were betrayed by the wealthy backers telling us to vote conservative and that will not change.

Bob Heath
February 13, 2020 11:56 pm

As a physicist and a Brit proud of the industrial revolution, and everything else we gave the world (especially to its colonies) I apologise for this twerp. The only good thing he’s done was to be heavily involved in getting us out of the EU. He does not represent the majority of Brits, Conservatives or Brexiteers.

fred250
February 14, 2020 12:08 am

““All the harm Britain did to the world…”

UTTER BOLLOCKS,

the Industrial revolution was many magnitude more beneficial than harmful !!

Saighdear
Reply to  fred250
February 14, 2020 2:07 am

I’m all for the efficiency of Diesel engines – I use and repair them. and where did the “D I E S E L ” come from ? and what powers the world – albeit the US took a long time to shift from gasoline, bigtime, in their work-horse engines?
This Kooshit about UK leading the world….. as Bad as our Sturgeon et al racing shadows to the bottom of the pit

Donald Boughton
Reply to  Saighdear
February 14, 2020 3:24 am

From the name of the German who did the original research work on these engines Dr Diesel.
His original engines used soft cold dust as fuel, something that Germany had plenty of but had trouble with the ash in the engine so switched to gas oil. Gas oil is the name for a distillation fraction
that is produced by the distillation of Crude Oil. Th mucky version is used as Heating Oil, the cleaned up version has additives added and is sold as Diesel.

Saighdear
Reply to  Donald Boughton
February 14, 2020 5:34 am

Indeed! – shall we say -from EUROPE ? -so not all UK led pollution. and I know what CO2 is – not a pollutant, etc
BUT, DB, could you please elucidate on the COAL injection. I did not know that ( about Rudy’s engine ) but am aware of milling coal to a fluid powder for blasting into Steam furnaces for Power generation.

MarkW
Reply to  Saighdear
February 14, 2020 8:14 am

Big engines in the US have always been diesel. Car engines didn’t start converting to diesel until the oil crisis of the 70’s.
Auto manufacturers tried to take regular gasoline engines and convert them to diesel. Needless to say, these engines didn’t work well or last long, and the resultant bad reputation for diesels delayed their eventual adoption into the automobile market for a number of years. When I was a kid, most gas stations had at least one pump for diesel and the diesel was always 10 cents or so cheaper than regular gas. (This was back when regular gas went for 30 to 40 cents a gallon in S. California.)

Abolition Man
February 14, 2020 2:23 am

That’d be like paying reparations for starting the worldwide Abolition movement or apologizing for cultural destruction due to fighting slavery around the globe like the African Squadron! Oh, wait! Never mind!!

Donald Boughton
February 14, 2020 3:28 am

Unfortunately this little squirt is my constituency MP. His knowledge of Science and Technology is what one would expect form someone who holds a Degree in English(2-1) awarded by the University of Stirling
non-existant!!

Gerald the Mole
February 14, 2020 3:43 am

There seems to be a good correlation between the more certain a person is that there is a serious problem with global warming and their ignorance of basic science.

Melvyn Dackombe
February 14, 2020 4:20 am

Does he have to look so gormless. Like Mr Bean on a good day.

kzb
February 14, 2020 4:41 am

Britain does indeed own the USA. Both sides signing the declaration of independence were representatives of the same company -the East India Company. It therefore has no legal standing.
Also, following the war about taxation being paid to Britain, the taxation was set in stone and increased.

MarkW
Reply to  kzb
February 14, 2020 8:16 am

What color is your tin foil hat?

Reply to  kzb
February 14, 2020 3:19 pm

The East India Company!?!
And all this time I thought it was the Masons!
(Or maybe it was the Templars? Were the Templars behind the Masons and they were behind … some other group’s “behind”?)

George Lawson
February 14, 2020 5:08 am

” the country that pioneered the Industrial Revolution and played the biggest role in the change in our climate, [has] a responsibility to lead a Green Industrial Revolution.“

Mr Gove, you are wrong again. The industrial revolution which was started in Britain did not play a role in the changing of our climate for the worse, because our climate today is better than it has ever been. We are all living longer and enjoying a life that was never envisaged in recent history as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which, amongst other things, facilitated the medical research that eliminated the scourge of many horrific diseases to the benefit of the worlds population. If you have a reason to believe otherwise, then can I invite you to debate your views with one of the thousands of scientists across the world, who are far more qualified than you to pontificate on a subject for which so far you have no empirical evidence? Mr Gove, you have already brought the British car industry to its knees by your groundless decision to bring an end to the use of diesel oil and petrol in vehicles. You have also set out to damage further, our car industry by stating that petrol and diesel cars will be banned within 15 years. It seems as if you have a conscious desire to bring our nation’s economy to a massive decline for no apparent reason or the support of the majority of the people of this nation. One has to wonder what your motives are for wanting to do this.

Steve Z
February 14, 2020 7:56 am

Boris Johnson and his Tories won the last election by promising to “get Brexit done”. One of the major drags on the British economy was the regulations from the unelected Commission of the European Union, which hampered industrial development everywhere in the EU. Germany was once the dominant economy in the EU, but their recent tilt toward wind and solar energy (in a very cloudy country) and away from nuclear and fossil-fuel energy has weakened Germany’s economy and taken much of Europe down with it, with the exception of France, which has retained its nuclear power plants which provide about 3/4 of its electric power.

If the UK is now free of the shackles of the European Union, they can develop their economy using rules voted by the British Parliament, develop North Sea oil as much as they wish, and do not have to obey self-destructive EU regulations. The UK will need trading partners to continue its growth, so will Boris Johnson choose to reattach himself to the sinking EU ship, or try to ride the coattails of the booming economy of the USA which can provide its own fossil-fuel needs and even exports a little? For a pro-growth Tory like Boris Johnson, the answer should be obvious.

With the exception of China, most of the fastest-growing economies of the world are former British colonies: the USA, Canada, Australia, and India. The UK knows that the economic model they helped spread to their former colonies works well, and Boris Johnson will continue to follow it. If Michael Gove wants to give that up to worry about climate change, he might soon be unemployed.

February 14, 2020 7:56 am

Hey! It’s Howdy Doody time!

comment image

2hotel9
February 14, 2020 8:04 am

Has this clown renounced fossil fuels and all things derived from them? No? Just another hypocritical leftist idiot.

George Lawson
February 14, 2020 9:33 am

“in the face of likely opposition from the US and Brazilian administrations the UK would look to work with cities and states to secure more ambitious climate pledges.”

What a shocking statement. I thought we in Britain were looking for an improved trading relationship with the US. Yet here is this ridiculous man suggesting that we ignore President Trumps national policy and deal direct with States that do not agree with the President. Has it not escaped his knowledge that this will undermine the Prime Minister’ attempt to get the very best trading deal with our US friends, and has it not occurred to Mr Gove that currently the US are enjoying much improved economy in spite of a reduction in their CO2 levels. PM Johnson should dispose of Mr Gove’s services very quickly before he does more damage to the country’s progress which will take years to recover if Gove’s stupidity is not checked. God help us all if he is given the chair at the jamboree in Glasgow later this year.

Schrodinger's Cat
February 14, 2020 11:02 am

An alleged global catastrophe based on flawed uncertain science was always going to be far beyond the intellectual grasp of most politicians regardless of their intelligence and political awareness.

Saving the planet is a must have credential for any politician with ambition. Failure is pretty ill defined too, so not much risk. What about destroying the economy, energy supply and industry? That is the cost of the mission and its futility will only emerge, if ever, when the whole scam is shown to be based on wrong science.

Sceptics (Skeptics) keep chipping away at the alarmism. Alarmists, meanwhile, control all the public communication. The main scientists, and by that, I mean the ones with influence, the decision makers, either remain genuine believers or they choose to present that position. There are a great many ordinary scientists who keep quiet in order to protect their jobs and possibly their safety.

Only that last category can challenge the current situation. I do not see signs of any change. Meanwhile, ignorant politicians like Gove will destroy everything, blissfully unaware of the mindless and pointless damage they are inflicting

I have a new member of parliament. I wrote to him before he started and provided official data on hurricanes, ( and cyclones and typhoons) , droughts, floods, sea level and wildfires) showing that extreme weather was declining rather than as described by the hysterical BBC and other media. My intention was to prove to him that the rhetoric did not match scientific reality. He replied, saying that he respected my views but scientists everywhere regarded climate change as an emergency. He did not mention the data I sent and I have no idea if he looked at it or misunderstood my point. He obviously thought I was a crank.

We have lost the argument. Let’s face it, we either need a great many climate scientists to speak up or a massive scientific breakthrough. There are new papers all the time, disproving the GHG effect but we completely ignore them, e.g. https://www.scirp.org/pdf/acs_2020011611163731.pdf
h/t No Tricks Zone. If we, the sceptics, ignore them then we cannot complain if the rest of the world does too.

Gwan
Reply to  Schrodinger's Cat
February 15, 2020 2:59 pm

Schroders Cat,
A good paper but a little above my science for a farmer ,
It is good to see that scientists around the world are pushing back on this global scam of CAGW.
Graham

BillP
February 14, 2020 11:33 am

“As we all know the Industrial Revolution relied – and still relies to a disproportionate extent – on the extraction and use of hydrocarbons,”

Actually the industrial revolution was powered by coal, which is not a hydrocarbons.

Alba
February 14, 2020 1:27 pm

As far as COP26 is concerned the potential policing costs are enormous. It might be moved to London.
“Talks are continuing over the policing costs, said to be north of £200m, according to sources. Downing St stressed that what was at the forefront of the Prime Minister’s mind was value for taxpayers’ money and that the costs had to be “realistic”.”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18231158.new-war-words-breaks-london-edinburgh-ridiculous-policing-costs-cop26-summit

c777
February 14, 2020 1:28 pm

The Cameron led Conservative LibDem coalition couldn’t even get the roll out of free loft insulation right, they made a complete utter mess out of it.
If this bunch of Muppets try to radically change the very thing that underpins our civilisation, relatively cheap reliable energy, and replace it expensive unreliable energy, they will do the same, make an utter mess out of it because it simply will not work.
They are dangerous fools.
If they carry on like this.
They won’t be in government again after this Parliament.
No one votes to be poorer.
That is what this will cause.

Johann Wundersamer
February 25, 2020 9:27 pm

“As we all know the Industrial Revolution relied – and still relies to a disproportionate extent – on the extraction and use of hydrocarbons,” Gove said. “And we have a moral responsibility on the first in, first out basis to ensure the country that pioneered the Industrial Revolution and played the biggest role in the change in our climate, [has] a responsibility to lead a Green Industrial Revolution.“

Eric Worrall,

Streetwise kidz, childhood pranks – the Chinese will roll their eyes.